S. Sudan says some who had contact with COVID-19 patients refusing to give blood samples for testing
Dr. Riek Machar Teny, South Sudan First Vice President, announcing the first case of Coronavirus at Pyramid Hotel, Juba, on April 5th, 2020 (Photo credit: SSNN/supplied)
April 11, 2020 (SSNN) — South Sudan government has threatened to arrest people who had contact with the confirmed four cases of COVID-19 and are refusing to give blood samples to the ministry of health for testing.
The coronavirus taskforce said this evening in a statement that some of the people who had contact with the confirmed coronavirus cases are refusing to give blood sample to the country’s ministry of health for testing.
“The High-Level Taskforce on COVID-19 Pandemic held its 20th Meeting on the afternoon of Saturday 11th April 2020 under the Chairmanship of H. E. Dr Riek Machar Teny-Dhurgon, the First Vice President and Deputy Chairman of the High-Level Taskforce on COVID-19 Pandemic,” it said.
“The Honourable Minister further informed the High-Level Taskforce that some contacts decline to provide samples. The Ministry of Health, however, is working with partners to ensure that no contacts or samples are missed,” the statement said.
It said that the COVID-19 taskforce has directed that the contacts to the confirmed cases must adhere to the request of collecting sample otherwise the will be arrested and have the samples collected by force.
“The High-Level Taskforce directs that contacts must comply and voluntarily come forward for sample collection. Failure to comply, the contact shall be arrested and samples mandatorily collected.”
The taskforce further said arrangements were “underway to transport 11 samples from the contacts of the third (3rd) case, confirmed in Torit, to the Public Health Laboratory in Juba for testing.”
It further added that the taskforce has given permissions to some requests for flight including one from the United States and the UN mission in the country.
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